Portrait Painting

In Intermediate Drawing(ARTS 312) I painted an acrylic portrait of myself. The goal was to create a drawing which falls into the category of portraiture. I wanted to mimic and continue the style of old family photos I have seen of my grandparents and great-grandparents. In order to do this I utilized motifs such as my grandfather’s tie and a suit similar to that of my great-grandfather. I also included personal elements such as the rosary. Furthermore, I stylized the portrait and included geometric patterning which I often use in paintings. The most challenging aspect of this project was the arranging of the various elements in order to create a satisfying composition.

The Process

I was also interested in emulating the appearance of Byzantine Iconography, however after this test, I decided it would be too stylized.

At first I already had a clear vision of how I wanted the layout to look like. However, I had wanted to go with a more blue color palette.

I was thinking at this point of having a landscape outside the window, ultimately I decided against that because the pure white/light window I thought would work better with the composition. It wouldn’t pull you out.

I also spent a lot of time getting the correct colors and textures in the different parts of the composition to create a cohesive design.

I wanted to incorporate geometric designs in the style of the portrait, and their interaction with light.

I had an idea of how I wanted the layout, however it took me a long time to get everything in the right place in my drawing.